Customer Reviews

Bean Blossom

5 star:		(3)
4 star:		(3)
3 star:		(0)
2 star:		(0)
1 star:		(0)

 

 

I am happy to say that I was at Beanblossom to see this as it was being recorded. Although there was some of the Grant Turner-type encouragement from the wings to get the audience to applaud at just the right times, it was, simply, a gathering of giants. They're almost all gone. Bill, Jimmy Martin, Lester, Jim McReynolds ... it just about brings tears to my eyes to listen to Jimmy Martin, especially. Skip the James Monroe stuff ... he sounds (and looked like) he was coming off a weeklong meth binge. It was also the first time I saw (the great) Marty Stuart, playing mandolin in Lester's band. A scrawny little hillbilly-punk lookin' kid who could play like crazy. After one of Bill's sets, I walked up to his bus parked nearby and walked in on (the great) Kenny Baker, who signed an album and indulged my gushing fandom. This is a GREAT album.

This is one of the great bluegrass albums of all time. Wonderful sense of excitement and incredible music from the top bluegrass bands at their peak. It's live performance, so there are some funny moments, but this is one terrific CD. Belongs in any bluegrass collection.

It's difficult for me to pick a CD where I like every track, but this album comes very close. This is my favorite bluegrass CD. It features Bill Monroe (Father of Bluegrass), Jim and Jesse, Jimmy Martin (King of Bluegrass), Lester Flatt, James Monroe and more. It is a non-stop great live album. Highly recommended!!

I have nothing to add about this CD, a great introduction to bluegrass. However, before you spend $50.00 to buy a used copy, you should check out itunes, where you can get it for $11.99.

At times exhilarating, at times frustrating, this recording of the huge Bill Monroe Bluegrass Festival from 1973 must have been like a hayseed Woodstock. Huge acts, including Bill Monroe and the Bluegrass Boys, Lester Flatt and the Nashville Grass, Jimmy Martin and the Sunny Mountain Boys, Jim and Jesse and the Virginia Boys, James Monroe and the Midnight Ramblers, and literally a dozen fiddlers all showed up, in fine form, playing and singing what have become bluegrass classics like Uncle Pen, the Sunny Side of the Mountain, Free Born Man, the Ballad of Jed Clampett, Ole Slew Foot, and about 20 more. Hampered (like every festival I've ever attended) by poor sound quality at times, the recording preserves all the onstage banter, the introductions, and the glitches along with the amazing musicianship and tight, 'high lonesome' harmonies. The closest thing to attending a bluegrass festival with an all-star cast short of buying a ticket and going - although you're too late for Bill Monroe, who's now singing tenor harmony with Elvis.

Here's an album that's a great snapshot of festivals in the days when when you could see Bill Monroe, Lester Flatt, Jimmy Martin and Jim and Jesse all at the same place! The bluegrass boys sound great with Kenny Baker on fiddle and Bill at the helm. Jim and Jesse harmonies are so perfect. Listening to "Ole Slew-Foot" really puts me at a Bluegrass Festival. Bluegrass is such a wonderful music live and this album really captures some of that feel. Jimmy Martin is so full of life when he sings, and of course Lester Flatt's voice is warm and round and their bands are in top form as well. One of the greatest songs for me on this album is "I wonder where you are tonight" with Bill Monroe and Jim and Jesse. Also the stage banter is great to listen to. The bad? Well, James Monroe and the Midnight Ramblers sound like they just got hit by a truck and are trying to play anyway. I don't know, maybe just compared to the giants they are playing with they seem lesser. James does sing a nice duet with his dad later on, though. The kind of funny thing that is, if not good, is interesting is the last couple of tracks which are fiddle tunes played by 12 fiddlers. Twelve great fiddlers, but together it's a bit much. I imagine it was something to see live, but on record it makes you realize why most bands don't have twelve fiddlers. But it's historic, not? Also the cover art really freaks me out, I'm not quite sure what the artist was thinking. So all in all, there are great moments on this album from a classic period of bluegrass history. Great music and great fun that really starts to give a feel of why Bluegrass is so great live.